Thursday, 28 July 2011

countdown

less than a week until we leave for canada and i've started organising the bits and pieces i've been collecting to keep the kids amused on the journey. starting from left, working in a spiral:

• peppa pig headphones for mae to use with the laptop ($19.99 from myer)

• a digital photo keychain that will hold about 100 pics of her daddy,
her sister, her buddies and, most importantly, mae as she looooooves
to look at pictures of herself ($8.50 from officeworks)

• peppa pig stickers (leftover from a sticker book)

• dora surprise egg that i picked up after easter,
apparently has a sticker, toy and candy inside ($2 at coles)

• dora flashlight that has little plastic discs with images that snap on,
making it into a little projector (very weak light, should keep her happy
but not be annoying to fellow passengers) ($2 from toy world)

• flicky pen with six different coloured inks and a bit of paper
($2 pen from toys r us)

• set of four wooden finger puppets ($8 from vic markets)

• glo in the dark bracelet (50¢ from st vinnies)

• two toy phones, the op shop one (50¢) has now been deemed too big
and will be staying home, the other is a newy ($22 from myer) for soph

• dora in a little airplane that mae has been eyeing off at the
supermarket for months, shane will give this to her at the airport
as a farewell gift ($5 from safeway)

• a bunch of junky toys collected from the op shop that she will love,
especially the hello kitty watches and the thomas phone
(big bag of toys, $3.50 at st vinnies)

• colourblast book with pen the only works on the special pages
($5 from toys r us)

• elmo sticker book that has sticker clothes to dress the characters
($2 from toys r us)

• fairy doll whose wings light up ($8 from toys r us)

• chupa chups for emergency mae taming (5 for $1 at coles)

so all that plus the laptop full of favourite shows and movies should keep mae mostly preoccupied, i think. soph is going to have to be content with whatever mae doesn't want to play with at that moment (as usual) and lots of snacking. i'm bringing meusli bars (carman's), sultanas, multigrain crackers, freeze dried apple and strawberries, a bit of fruit for the first leg of the flight, cheerios, cruskits, maybe some digestive cookies (but they are soooo crumbly)... nothing too out of the ordinary from our usual snacks.

any last minute suggestions? we're pretty tight on space but let me know if you think of something brilliant we should take along to play with or eat!

18 comments:

I know you probably don't have the room or time -but fuzzy felt (if you rememeber it) was always a great car entertainer back in the day. A little felt covered board and then heaps of cut outs to make pictures and little scenes .I hope it goes swimmingly .

jodie, i love fuzzy felt! i actually have a vintage farm one stashed away and a couple of new sets, too but all those little pieces... i fear we'd leave half of them stuck to the airplane seats. would be ace in the car though!

thanks, marit! i forgot to write that i'm going to let mae pick out a magazine at the airport, a special treat to kill time while waiting. a little book for soph would be good though, she loves them lately.

awesome thinking with these items! i did a looong similiar trip in Feb this year (melb to alabama usa with a 3.5 and 1.5 yo solo!) i packed too much stuff for the kids...my 3.5 ended up GLUED to the kids inflight ent. - 10hours straight viewing! and didnt eat a damn thing i packed snack wise. my 1.5 y.o was tricky...some stickering and thats about it. i promise you i packed such a goodie bag of surprises and treats but honestly i could of halved it and been more than fine. i think your baby soph will have fun just playing with the tv remote buttons. glo stick is v.good, digital photo keychain with dad in it brilliant! missing dad is a hard part : ( ! a small favourite book for soph is good too. i picked up a small cheap magnetic drawing slate board with pen for $2 that wipes clear after a scribble and that was a hit for both my kids. you know the ones? good luck & have a great time once you're there!

Looks like you have lots of good ideas there......I think the chupa chops are well worth having (I always try to take them in similar situations to tryhelp steer off melt downs). Lots of wipes would be a good idea too for sticky chupa fingers, spilled drinks etc. I've also used disposable bibs (very non-env friendly) which are sort of waterproof papery stuff. Think this shows how much I hate sticky mess, especially if it gets on me (why am I having a fourth?!)! Juliex

In a pinch we always have good fun with a couple of the airplane drinking cups. They become phones, goggles, stacking things, and, with those elmo stickers, you could do an impromptu craft project and turn them into dolls.

Looks like you are totally prepared!! I wish you the best on your looong day of travel. My favorite non-electronic activity with Bird has been Priddy sticker books - #'s, abc's, etc. Saved us when we we've been stuck on the runway for who knows what reason. And I imagine chupas are what we call lollipops :o) They're a total necessity.

daisy, i know, you just never know what they will actually want to do. when mae was one and we flew to canada, we packed TONS of carry on - blankets, toys, books - and she really didn't care about any of it, just wanted to grab at the tv in the seat and look at the people behind us. and not sleep. it was hell, actually. i can't believe i am doing it again! alone!

Wow, looks like you've got it all covered. I think a book would be a good idea, too. I've heard athose mini etch-a-sketch drawing thngys are quite handy for long haul travel. Chupa chips are an excellent calming tool when you can feel a melt down coming on. My kids had their first ones at the tail end of a 12+ hour drive recently. They last for ages, too, which is good.

I have to say: Mom and I are getting VERY excited for you and the munchkins to arrive! It looks like you're well stocked for the trip; the girls are going to love all those little goodies. The one thing I would add is maybe a special flask for YOU though. ;) Or Baby Gravol.

chupa chups and baby wipes - ooh yes!!contstantly getting stuff out of the overhead locker is a pain...i used a little drawstring bag filled with some chupa chups and small items (plus spare nappy/baby wipes) to easily grab and put with us in our seat and to contain all our bits.bon voyage!

I love to hear your thoughts, thanks so much for taking the time to comment! If you have a question to ask, I will answer it here (and by email as well, if I can track down your email address). I would love to reply to every single comment but until Blogger makes it easier to reply by email, please know that I am so happy you stopped by : )

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Canadian hands designing and creating in Melbourne, thrift shopping, muted colours, soft linen, wool felt, quilted anything, organic shapes in pottery, tiny seashells, chamomile, the patterns of wood, scandinavian design, Japanese craft books, line drawings, hand dying and hand printing fabric...
For years I designed and made under the name of onegirl designwrks but in November 2011, I decided to follow my love of hand printing and sumptuous textiles and launched Maze & Vale, my line of screen printed, original design fabric and the goods created with it.